Anyone who has ever visited a Dharma center, church, or temple has witnessed the importance that volunteers play in keeping the wheels of community worship turning. Extending well beyond the spiritual domain, the world at large has a major debt to pay to volunteers. As the American volunteer organization, the Points of Light Foundation, writes, “Serious social problems aren’t simply prevented or solved with private funding or government programs. It requires the human connection established by volunteers. The cost of solving serious social problems without volunteers would be astronomical. In fact, today’s US volunteer workforce represents the equivalent of over nine million full-time employees whose combined efforts are worth $225 billion.”

Communities and cultures around the world are embracing the value of volunteering on both social and individual levels. The government of Thailand recently announced that civil servants will be given five days’ leave per year to do volunteer work. A 2006 report by the Corporation for National and Community Service unveiled new research which shows that volunteering leads to better health. The findings interestingly show that such health benefits occur to a greater degree in the volunteer than in the one receiving social service – in the Buddhist context, we could say this beautifully illustrates one of the benefits of bodhichitta.

Mandaladedicates this installment of The Giving Tree to “The Volunteer.” You who clean the gompa, visit a prisoner, staunch a wound, organize a puja – you who have committed yourself to the path of enlightenment for the benefit of others. You are a precious example of how to change the world: by understanding that serving others is the most meaningful way to serve ourselves. …